A Thousand Miles & A Hundred Years
by Florencia7
Summary: Post-8x01. When Sybil invades Damon and Elena's first meeting, Damon seeks refuge in another memory but the events he remembers take an unexpected turn... S8!Damon/S1!Elena
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : First things first, I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter! :)

Secondly, this story started out as a one-shot, but developed into a slightly longer story (shocking, I know). Apart from this one, there are 3 more chapters to come.

 **Summary** : Post-8x01. When Sybil invades Damon and Elena's first meeting, Damon seeks refuge in another memory but the events he remembers take an unexpected turn... S8!Damon/S1!Elena

 **Disclaimer** : _The_ _Vampire_ _Diaries_ belongs to L.J. Smith & CW. The credit for the title goes to TVD, to one of my favorite quotes of the entire series: _"Because you may be a thousand miles away or a hundred years away, but you are still here with me and my heart is right there in that coffin with you."_

 **A Thousand Miles & A Hundred Years**

 **Chapter 1**

It was always through a dark forest that he would get there, drawn to the faint glimmer of fog covering the ground where he had been lying on the road that night, expecting nothing, about to find everything.

It was strange at first, witnessing the scene, one of his most treasured memories, as it was playing in front of him like a movie. Dozens of times later he developed a habit of participating in the reenactment himself, repeating the words he knew by heart, standing there in front of Elena, reveling in looking at her, taking in every detail of her face, every flicker of light in her eyes, every intricacy of her voice.

He never tried to alter or add anything. He was just remembering that moment the best he could. The only liberty he allowed himself to take was lingering, for just a while longer, to gaze into Elena's eyes for another minute, to reignite hope dying down in his heart. Because he would always find it in her eyes.

Sometimes he would tell her how much he loved her, missed her, needed her. But he never made her answer him. This wasn't a part of the memory and the memory, Elena's words in it, had to remain intact. He felt like he would be manipulating the memory otherwise, and he didn't want that. Daydreaming didn't have the same power. It wasn't real. But his memories of Elena, their memories were real. And that was what he wanted to hold on to.

"So, Damon, what is it that I want?" Elena slightly tilted her head to the side, and he smiled wistfully at the youthful, cheery look in her eyes that he would have seen again months later in Atlanta, but even then only for a handful of moments before the loss and grief would have caught up with her again.

"You want what everybody wants," Damon replied, taking a few steps toward her, his breath catching in his throat at the proximity.

For a second he wondered that if he reached out to touch her face, would it feel real or would he find air under his fingertips?

"What?" Elena's face lit up in a subtly flirtatious smile. "A mysterious stranger who has all the answers?"

Damon smiled back without looking away even for a moment, so he wouldn't lose any precious seconds of looking at her.

"So that's where your mind wanders during those incessant naps. Interesting."

Damon's smile vanished off his face in an instant. He stiffened at the sound of the sardonic voice behind him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked through his teeth, turning around and glaring at Sybil who was standing nearby with a smirk on her face.

"Well, I take that back," Sybil said, apparently continuing her train of thought and ignoring Damon's question. "Not all that interesting." She raised her eyebrows, looking Elena up and down. "Is that your big secret? Some small town girl in sneakers?"

Stepping in front of Elena when Sybil took a step toward her, Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "Get out of my head."

Sybil snarled. "I think you're forgetting something. You and your head belong to me. And here I thought Enzo was the one I should watch out for. It turns out the real problem was you all along." She thrusted up her chin, glancing over Damon's shoulder with a catty smile.

Damon abruptly turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of Sybil in Elena's clothes standing in front of him.

"So not my color," Sybil said with a sigh, glancing at the top she was wearing. "But I still look better in it than she did. Or ever will. Tragic, that you're never going to see her again," she added with a small pout.

Damon squeezed his eyes shut trying to recall the memory the way it was supposed to be, but when he opened his eyes again, Sybil was still there, clearly amused by his attempts at throwing her out of his head.

"Sorry. Looks like your mind-control skills aren't as good as mine. But it was cute that for a second there you seemed to believe otherwise."

"Do you really think you can get to me in my own head?" Damon asked under his breath, his voice dripping with vehemence. "There are thousands of memories I can go to, hundreds of memories in which you won't find me."

"And there are hundreds of ways for me to destroy every single one of them," Sybil said in an artificially melodic voice, her eyes turning serious and cold in a split second.

"You can't destroy something you can't understand."

Shooting Sybil one last glare, Damon vanished into the night.

xxxdelenaxxx

Walking across the empty streets of Mystic Falls Damon wondered if now those who had held his dessication idea against him still thought it had been a bad plan. If only he could remain asleep indefinitely. Although perhaps the wiser choice would be to wake up and deal with the siren face to face, but somehow this occurred to him only when he already found himself under Elena's window.

The lights were out, the curtains were billowing in the wind, and he could almost hear Elena's steady breathing, see her hair splayed over the white pillow.

On the second thought, there was no telling what Sybil would do once he woke up. Perhaps staying in his memories for a while longer was a better idea, after all. He could devote this time to coming up with a better plan than just hanging in there. It seemed like Enzo could be in for an uprising, so why not give it a shot? After all, Enzo did have a history of good escape plans, Damon thought with a weak, wry smile. Maybe that was the way to go. All the alternatives were pretty gruesome anyway. Not to mention that he should probably take his own advice and stop making it look like he'd given up. He wouldn't have let Elena do that and she wouldn't have let him, so in her absence, the least he could do was to keep himself on track, no matter what.

He was about to turn around and leave but Elena's window lit up and he could see her shadow when she grabbed something from her desk before crossing the room again.

The wind on his face felt so real it made a flicker of a smile pass across his face. He had been standing here for quite some time that night. At some point, he didn't even know how, he had figured she must've been asleep even though the night lamp had been on.

The reality was inescapable and upon opening his eyes he would inevitably find himself in hell on earth once again, so perhaps it wouldn't be a hindrance but just to the contrary, a nudge of inspiration if he allowed himself visiting another memory before bringing himself back to the gloomy present.

Just like that night so many years ago, Damon sneaked into Elena's room through the window she'd left ajar.

It didn't exist anymore, this room, this house, the window seat... _"I brought you this."_ Everything was gone, except for them, torn apart for dozens of years to come, but together in every way for that one, perfect lifetime together they could restart once Elena woke up.

With a faint smile, Damon slowly approached the bed and gently brushed the backs of his fingers across Elena's cheek. He wondered what she was dreaming of in her magical coma. Was she also wandering in between memories or perhaps, more fittingly for an ex-aspiring writer, she was making up stories in her head.

He lightly traced the outline of Elena's face with his fingertips. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful. Brushing a strand of hair off Elena's face Damon thought-

But then he froze, struck by the fear that his memory was being interrupted again, because all of a sudden he stopped feeling the warm skin of Elena's soft cheek under his touch.

However, this fear was quickly dispersed when his eyes met Elena's terrified gaze.

Damon's lips twitched into a relieved smile when he realized that she must've simply woken up-

He blinked, his smile turning into a confused frown when Elena scrambled away from him with a hint of panic in her eyes.

This shouldn't be happening at all.

"Damon?! What are you doing here?!" Elena gasped out after staring at Damon for a few seconds in silence.

She inwardly wondered why she didn't scream, but the lost look on Damon's face seemed to justify her reaction, at least to some extent. Yes, it was more than a little terrifying to wake up to someone watching you in your sleep, touching your face, but-

Elena clenched her teeth and drew a sharp intake of breath. Now that she actually put that into words it sounded downright frightening.

Damon grimaced, tilting his head to the side and apparently trying to come up with a response but to no avail.

"It's 1am," Elena added, glancing at the clock, hugging the bed cover to herself in a steely grip, not sure if it was brave or stupid of her not to run for her life, screaming, just because she wanted to avoid waking up Jenna who had a migraine and had gone to sleep early. Jeremy probably had his headphones on, so he was most likely going to continue sleeping undisturbed as... well, whatever it was that Stefan's unpredictable brother was planning on doing after sneaking into her bedroom in the middle of the night!?...

Which didn't seem to be much, Elena thought, quickly becoming more perplexed than frightened. Judging by the way Damon was looking at her right now, it seemed as if he thought that she was the one making no sense with her actions.

"I'm sorry, Elena, I... I didn't mean to... scare you," Damon stammered at last, trying to figure out what was going on, glancing around the room with a grimace of absolute confusion on his face.

If he was imagining this, why did it feel as if it was all happening around him out of its own accord? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't just a reenactment of his memory anymore.

"Oh really?" Elena widened her eyes at him with a mirthless snort. "Five hours ago you tried to kiss me and now I find you in the middle of the night in my room and I'm supposed to be ok with that?" She blurted out and then fell silent scolding herself for bringing up what had happened earlier that night.

What if Stefan's brother was a psychopath and that was the reason why they didn't keep in touch? That was a scary possibility, but Elena rather hoped that the alternative was true, and that Damon was just... strange. Right.

Elena's feverish thoughts were interrupted when Damon made a grumbling noise and grimaced.

"Of all our memories where I could get stuck in. My own brain hates me," he muttered in a resigned tone and to Elena's utter bewilderment plopped down onto her bed, and hid his face in his hands.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for all of your amazing reviews! :)

I would also like to mention and wholeheartedly recommend for everyone to read these AMAZING stories which are currently in progress: **November** **Rain** and **Welcome To The Jungle** by the phenomenal **scarlett2112** , **You Become** by the wonderful **Moonstone369** , **Captive Of Her Beauty** by the awesome **Salvatoreboys4ever** , and if you are a Once Upon a Time fan, **Character Development** by the fabulous **Willofthewisp**.

 **Chapter 2**

Without even realizing it, Elena loosened her grip on the bed cover that she had been holding close to her chest. She tilted her head to the side, regarding Damon's profile for a few seconds in silence, wondering if it was the absurdity of the situation or something else that was making the moment feel so obscurely magnetic.

"Are you alright?" She asked, any traces of fear in her voice and attitude morphing into concern.

"I'm just... gonna go now."

Shaking his head, Damon stood up, and crossed the room, heading toward the window. Then he stopped abruptly in his tracks, turned toward Elena with a strange, farewell smile, and squeezed his eyes shut.

When he opened them again, Elena was still watching him with her eyebrows knitted in a confused frown.

"What's going on here? Why am I still here?" Damon glanced left and right and then closed his eyes again.

Soundlessly, with her eyes fixed on Damon, Elena slowly tossed the bed cover to the side and slid off the bed. She took a few, cautious steps toward him and lightly touched his arm.

His eyes snapped open and she shivered at the way they immediately locked with hers. It was odd, Elena thought, talking to him with her face so close to his. She should probably reconsider, what with his earlier ill-mannered attempt to kiss her. But she couldn't help the impression that something was wrong with him and that he needed her help.

On a side note, she should probably stop thinking about the fact that he'd tried to kiss her if she didn't want him to launch another attempt. According to Bonnie's Grams it was possible to make things happen just by thinking about them intensely enough.

"Why is this happening? This never happened," Damon whispered in growing bewilderment and Elena's eyes flickered to his.

Which made her realize that her gaze must've accidentally lingered on his lips.

"Why am I imagining this?" Damon added softly and Elena stiffened thinking that she might've gotten carried away hoping that he was not a threat, because all of a sudden his hands were on her face again, grazing her cheeks ever so lightly.

It was all beginning to make sense. That was probably why Stefan had never mentioned his brother to her until she met him. He wasn't ready to confide in her that his brother was... mentally troubled. Maybe he'd even been locked up somewhere before, that's why he hadn't visited their uncle Zach in years?

"Damon," Elena tried to sound decisive but there was something so sad in his demeanor that she didn't have a heart to push him away.

Which was probably a lame excuse for letting your boyfriend's brother kiss you, Elena thought only to realize that he still didn't kiss her... yet.

However the fact that she was already rationalizing letting him do that could not be a good sign, it was not a good sign at all.

Moreover, it was a very inappropriate thought for someone who had a boyfriend, Elena told herself beginning to feel more threatened by her own feverish thoughts than by Damon's behavior, even though he was the one stalking her. Unless he had been sleepwalking and just accidentally... had climbed up into her bedroom. Elena glanced toward the window only now realizing with a mixture of wonder and dismay that it must've been how he'd got here.

As for having a boyfriend, technically, she'd been seeing Stefan for a week now. She knew next to nothing about him. They had kissed once and they hadn't been on a real date yet. This probably didn't even come close to Caroline's definition of dating. And wasn't Caroline technically dating Damon? Elena drew a sharp intake of breath. Becoming a cheating girlfriend and a backstabbing friend all at the same time definitely wasn't her plan for the night.

"I miss you so much." Cupping her face in his hands, Damon talked to Elena in a way that seemed reminiscent of someone speaking to an apparition rather than a real person.

And she was most definitely real.

The word echoed in Elena's head and made her pause for a second but she brushed the strangely unsettling feeling off.

"You need to sit down," Elena stated, having gathered all of her resolve to start acting in a rational way instead of getting lost in most ridiculous thoughts.

His eyes fixed on an unidentifiable point in space, Damon let Elena maneuver him to the window seat where she sat next to him, her hands absent-mindedly holding onto his.

"How are you feeling? Would you like something to drink? Or an aspirin? Maybe we should call Stefan?" Elena offered after a moment of consideration.

This seemed to shake Damon out of his reverie. "I know what this is," he said, giving Elena a suddenly distrustful look. "Nice trick, _Bonnie_ ," he called out, glancing around the room, "although I'm not sure what this is supposed to achieve-"

He fell quiet when Elena pressed her hand to his mouth in a desperate attempt to silence him.

"You're going to wake up the entire house!..." Elena whispered through her teeth, in her mind's eye already seeing the way in which Jenna's eyes would widen upon storming into her room and finding Damon here. "My aunt and my brother are sleeping literally a few feet away!..."

Slowly, Elena drew back her hand when Damon gave her a small nod indicating that he was not going to shout again.

"I just thought... Never mind," Damon frowned, quite certain that explaining his thought process would not help much.

Perhaps at some point he had just really fallen asleep. If he wasn't in the world of his memories anymore, and he also wasn't actively imagining this, then it all must be an actual dream! A dream conjured up by his tired mind to let him rest, to let him truly forget about the grim reality for a short while. Well, if that was the point it seemed to be working, Damon thought, simultaneously marveling at how real Elena's presence felt.

"You can tell me," Elena said earnestly picking up on the hesitant look on Damon's face. She instinctively covered his hands with hers and squeezed them in a reassuring gesture. "What is it? Did something happen?"

Damon shifted his eyes from their hands to Elena's face.

"The worst happened," he said hollowly, his lips twitching into a sad smile as he stroked the back of Elena's hand with his thumb which didn't escape her attention but it didn't feel like an action alarming enough to remove her hands from his just yet.

"The worst?" She echoed with renewed concern, searching his face for an answer that he seemed reluctant to put into words.

"I lost you," Damon replied so quietly Elena thought she'd misheard him, but the serious look in his eyes which were focused exclusively on her convinced her that she'd heard him right.

So he _was_ stalking her.

"Damon-" she started, but he interrupted her before she managed to reassure him that there was no reason to exaggerate what had happened earlier that night and that they could start over and possibly become friends-

Although the manner in which he interrupted her made Elena doubt if he was interested in becoming friends with her.

Even several seconds later, she could still feel his lips on her cheek, her skin burning from the unexpected kiss.

"What was that for?" Elena whispered a little breathlessly, her eyes wandering all over Damon's face that for a moment felt more familiar than it should.

Damon gave her a weak smile. "I had a really horrible couple of years. And I needed it."

He held her gaze in a way that sent shivers up her spine. He wasn't waiting for her to say anything or do anything. He just looked at her.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Elena said shakily, thinking that she should probably disentangle her hands from his, but his skin felt so puzzlingly soothing against hers that she found herself entwining her fingers with his more tightly instead. "Do you want to talk about it?" She offered, comforting herself with the thought that there could possibly be nothing wrong with helping someone since that was essentially what she was doing. Essentially.

A flicker of a roguish smile glimmered in Damon's eyes and for some reason it made Elena feel like smiling too.

"Are there any other options?" He asked, very deliberately glancing at her lips before looking into her eyes again.

He was always careful not to manipulate his memories, but if instead of remembering the past he was now simply dreaming, why shouldn't he let this dream carry him away somewhere beautiful and safe, if only for a few moments before the reality would crash back down on him?

"What do you mean?" Elena asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice, stalling.

It was only too easy to guess what he meant, and yet she couldn't figure out an appropriate response that would also be honest, because for reasons she couldn't grasp at all, and to her own astonishment, she suddenly realized that she wanted to kiss him since the moment she'd found him in her room.

"Do you want to slap me first, so we'd have it over with?" Damon asked with a crooked smile and Elena couldn't even pinpoint the moment when his confusion seemed to evaporate and he was all confidence and dangerous charm again.

She snorted weakly, her mind spinning a thousand miles a second as she was quite certain she had never felt so overwhelmed before. Here she was, flirting with her almost-boyfriend's brother, a virtual stranger, in her own bedroom, in the middle of the night. This was more than highly inappropriate. Not to mention that several hours ago she'd literally slapped him for attempting to kiss her and now she was smilingly allowing him to imply that he would repeat that very attempt. She wasn't sure what this was saying about her.

"We can skip that part altogether," Elena replied against all the warnings blaring in her head. She had no idea what she was doing, but there was something so singularly alluring about the thought of just getting lost in the moment that she couldn't find it in herself to fight the feeling.

The smile that Damon gave her right before inching his lips to hers made her heart start beating at a furious rate.

"Hey, Elena?" Jenna's voice suddenly resounded on the other side of the door accompanied by a quiet knock. "Are you up?"

Elena's eyes widened in dismay, the interruption immediately bringing her back to the reality. She'd literally been about to kiss Damon!?... She should really be grateful for Jenna's unconscious interference. And gratitude, Elena hoped, was the feeling that would settle in as soon as she got rid of all the regret, irritation, frustration and annoyance.

Damon frowned thinking that this was becoming more and more unlikely for this dream to be conjured up by his own mind. All that was missing was Donovan showing up with board games.

"Just a second!" Elena called out to Jenna, grabbing Damon's arm and pulling him toward her closet which seemed to amuse him greatly as soon as he realized what she was doing. "I'm coming!" Unceremoniously, Elena pushed Damon inside her rather full closet and was about to shut it close when he blocked the door with his foot. She gave him a questioning look, panic flashing in her eyes.

"I'm not gonna risk suffocation without any positive reinforcement," Damon whispered, squinting.

Elena widened her eyes at him in exasperation, but there was really no time to argue, so she decided to do the only thing that seemed to have a chance of making him cooperate.

She kissed him.

It was a simple kiss, just her lips pressed to his for about one second, but somehow she'd underestimated the effect it was going to have on her.

She'd never felt anything like this before. She didn't think it was even possible for the entire world to be suddenly reduced to one strikingly intense, all-consuming desire. All she wanted to feel was his mouth on hers, the sweet, fiery sensation sizzling through every inch of her body.

It took all of Elena's willpower not to kiss him again, but instead kick his foot in and shut the closet, panting on her way to the door, her steps unstable, hands shaking.

"Are you ok?" Jenna asked, studying Elena's face with a worried grimace when she finally opened the door.

"Yes, I'm fine," Elena nodded with a strained smile. "I'm just feeling a little… dizzy." She added with a small grimace. At least that much was entirely true.

"I know, me too," Jenna said with a sigh. "And just a heads-up, this headache seems to be pills-resistant," she said with a weak smile, pointing to her head. "There must be something in the air. Anyway. I just wanted to check if you closed your window. It's supposed to rain tonight, a killer thunderstorm and all."

"Thanks, Aunt Jenna, yeah, I'm gonna close it right now."

"Ok then," Jenna said with a smile and a shrug. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't stay up too late," she said, waggling her finger at her in a jocular manner.

Elena nodded with a forced laugh. "I won't. Good night."

She closed the door and was leaning against it for a few moments, listening for Jenna's footsteps to grow quiet and her room's door to click closed.

"That was _close_ ," Damon whispered into Elena's ear from behind her.

She bolted upright, stifling a shriek as she abruptly turned around. "What are you doing?! You scared me! Again," she whispered through her teeth. "What if I screamed?!"

"Well, that part of the night is still ahead of us," Damon whispered back, unfazed, his eyes lighting up in a lopsided smile.

Elena narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not funny."

Damon gave her a confused look. "I'm sorry, Elena, but didn't _you_ just kiss me?" He puckered his lips a little and Elena struggled not to smile.

"I was only trying to silence you!" She argued back, feeling herself blush.

Damon gave her a smug smile that would've irritated her if it wasn't so aggravatingly hot. "Whatever justification works for you, Elena," he said with a wink.

For a second that felt like an eternity Elena wondered how did she get herself in this situation? She had gone straight to sleep after getting home at 10pm like no normal teenager ever and that was her reward. Getting trapped between her own door and a dark half-stranger with mesmerizing eyes, worrying about getting caught because of course Jenna would immediately assume the worst.

Well, the worst morally-wise or something like that, Elena thought, frantically fighting for breath when Damon's lips skimmed across her cheek, slowly moving closer and closer to her lips. And when at last his mouth captured hers in an unhurried, passionate kiss it felt celestial and warm, like bursting into a fireplace-lit home after trudging through the endless cold.

Elena anchored her hands on Damon's shoulders and parted her lips with excitement fueled by the conviction that she was doing something forbidden. It felt like a secret being born and she felt immediately protective of it, as if this moment instantly became an integral part of her that could never be erased or taken away.

Damon whispered Elena's name against her lips and she shuddered, her arms wrapping around his neck in a subconscious attempt to keep him near.

"Why are we kissing?" Elena asked weakly, failing to avoid another kiss. "We shouldn't-"

"Why not?" Damon asked with a hint of sincere curiosity in his voice. "Elena."

Since Elena's answer could barely pass for coherent, Damon proceeded to maneuvering them away from the door, kissing her unrelentingly as they stumbled toward the bed.

"Damon-" Elena tried again, feeling his hands roam all over her. "We shouldn't- You shouldn't-" She trailed off, forced to press her lips to his neck to stifle a moan when he trailed open-mouthed kisses across her collarbones while keeping her in an embrace, as close to him as possible.

In the next moment, as soon as this overpowering sensation was over she wanted to protest anew, but he whispered her name again, and the only thing she suddenly felt capable of doing was trailing kisses across his neck and face before their lips crashed again in a voracious kiss.

She awkwardly tugged on his jacket and he promptly got rid of it along with his black shirt and her lace-trimmed top. She had never felt so comfortably naked before as when they fell onto the bed, his chest flat against hers, his fingers intertwining with hers when they continued kissing in an increasingly ravenous manner.

Damon marvelled inwardly at how real it all felt. Maybe if he was having these kind of dreams every night the last several years wouldn't have been such a disaster. He grazed Elena's shoulder with his lips, sliding his fingers into her hair, brushing his thumb across her lips before kissing her again.

It felt warm and safe, but at the same time cold thorns of pain were piercing his heart at the thought that it was all just a figment of his imagination while Elena, real Elena, his Elena was lying asleep in a cold coffin.

Elena's eyes snapped open, the strange sound pulling her out of the heated moment. She was lying very still for a few seconds, wondering if it was at all possible that Damon started… sniffling? in the midst of kissing her neck while her hands were scandalously close to the parts of him she had certainly never planned on seeing until this unprecedentedly weird night.

"Damon?"

It felt as if he held his breath and Elena automatically held hers too, waiting for him to look up at her.

When he finally did, his eyes were shining so much that she was sure she'd never forget this incredible sight of what looked like blue diamonds glimmering in the dark, his voice so warm, wrapping itself around her like a life-long shawl.

"I love you, Elena, I love you so much that every moment without you feels like a neverending, airless night."

Elena stared up at him, stunned into silence by the sudden gravity and seriousness of his tone. Surreptitiously, she tried to steady her breathing because it felt oddly inappropriate to pant while listening to such declarations.

"I miss you," he whispered in a voice that faltered and broke like glass, his hand skimming across Elena's face as if he was touching an old photograph.

"It's ok," Elena whispered shakily. "I'm here," she said the only thing that seemed to fit what he was saying even if he was making no sense at all.

Damon smiled weakly at that and to Elena's befuddlement didn't protest when on an impulse she rolled onto her side and cradled him to her, stroking his back with her chin propped on the top of his head. She would never guess a night could turn from scandalously passionate to platonically intimate that fast.

She also thought it should feel more strange to have Damon's face buried in her chest, but somehow it felt like the most natural thing in the world and Elena tried to make sense of it all while listening to Damon's breathing, which quickly became steady. He fell asleep at the speed clearly indicating exhaustion, as if he hadn't slept in years.

Oddly enough, Elena felt the same way when she closed her eyes.

As if for the first time in a long time it felt safe to be asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for all of your beautiful reviews! :)

Even though it's only a short story, it doesn't mean we can't have a twist / cliffhanger in it, right? ;)

The next and final chapter is currently in the process of being written and hopefully it will be posted by Saturday :)

 **Chapter 3**

The rain woke her up and it made Elena immediately realize that she had forgotten to close her window. She wanted to make up for her negligence at once, however getting out of bed proved harder than she expected it to be.

Stifling a gasp, Elena suddenly remembered what had happened… and what hadn't happen last night. She briefly pondered if there was anything she should be feeling guilty about since technically she hadn't done anything wrong. What remained a fact, however, was Damon's bare arms wrapped around her from behind, his face nestled in her hair, his legs entwined with hers.

It all felt rather alluring.

And completely unacceptable of course.

A nervous flinch made Damon mutter her name in his sleep and draw her even closer to him. Elena's eyes flickered to his hand draped over her hips and her mind surprised her by the number of images that could flash through her imagination within a single second.

She was on the verge of waking Damon up with an impatient kiss when she was reminded about the window and the rain.

Holding onto the shreds of the rational part of her brain, she gently wiggled herself out of Damon's embrace and tiptoed to the window to close it. The rain was pounding against the walls of the house, but other than raindrops all over the window seat no damage was done.

Elena glanced at the clock and with a resigned frown acknowledged that it was time to get up anyway.

Slowly, she tiptoed back toward the bed, letting her eyes roam over Damon's body only half-covered by the duvet. His cheek was pressed against her pillow, his black hair sticking in every direction, his lips slightly pursed. Elena drew a breath at a loss of what to do next. She had zero experience with naked men in her bed. Not to mention that she thought that paradoxically she might have had a better idea of what to do if something more than cuddling had actually happened last night.

Still asleep, Damon rolled onto his back and Elena's eyes traveled across his chest in silent contemplation of all the possible ways in which this situation could be made less confusing.

With another frown, she quickly decided that a cold shower was in order and tearing her gaze away from Damon she marched to her bathroom.

xxxdelenaxxx

"Elena-" Jeremy started, walking into Elena's room after knocking on her door for a few moments, contributing the lack of audible answer to Elena being asleep or in the shower, in which case he'd either just wake her up or shout loud enough for her to hear him.

But he stopped abruptly in his tracks as soon as he entered the room, caught off guard by the sight of some guy casually lounged on Elena's bed, one hand behind his head, the other holding Elena's teddy bear whom Damon placed on his chest and made him wave his little plush paw at Jeremy.

"Hi there," Damon said with a brief smile.

This dream was getting weirder by the minute. First he was dreaming about himself falling asleep before anything of merit happened, then about Elena resisting him and opting for a shower instead, and now about Jeremy interrupting them. Human, well, vampire mind was a mysterious place indeed.

"Hi," Jeremy replied very slowly, his eyebrows furrowed as he regarded Damon critically for a few seconds before glancing around the room.

"Elena's in the shower," Damon said, making the plush bear indicate the direction.

The sound of running water seemed to confirm Damon's words, but Jeremy was still looking at him rather distrustfully.

"Who are you?" Jeremy asked with a frown, wondering if he'd missed the signs of Elena getting worse instead of better. All this time he thought she was dealing better than he was, healing faster, however that seemed to obviously not be true if finding a much older dude in her bed was any indication.

The question seemed to genuinely amuse Damon. "I'm Damon. Your future brother-in-law. Nice to meet you, Jer," Damon said, making the teddy bear's paw shake an imaginary hand.

Jeremy raised his eyebrows. "Whoa, some pretty far-fetching plans there," he said flatly.

"You bet," Damon replied with a wink.

The bathroom door cracked open and Elena stepped out wrapped in a towel and with a rather embarrassed expression on her face.

"Jeremy!" Elena gave her brother a strained smile, not really having been able to come up with any viable story from the moment she'd heard Jeremy's voice until she decided it'd be better to interrupt his conversation with Damon. Who knew what he might tell him? She glanced at Damon and felt her fears were validated by the way in which his gaze roamed over her as if they were married for at least 5 years.

"Just wanted to tell you that the breakfast is ready and that Jenna wanted to talk to you," Jeremy cut in before swiftly turning around and leaving the room.

Elena gave Damon a half-hearted glare when he made her teddy bear wave Jeremy a goodbye.

"Jeremy, wait!"

Elena rushed out of her room, causing Jeremy to stop and turn toward her.

"Hey, I'm not judging you," he reassured her with a disturbing amount of indifference in his voice. "Not everyone's downward spiral involves drugs. Yours is probably healthier anyway," he said with a small shrug. "Unless he's a drug dealer," Jeremy added as an afterthought. "You may want to double-check where he gets money for his clothes from."

Elena blinked, not sure if she was more appalled by Jeremy's attitude or his erroneous assessment of the situation. Unless he was only messing with her, she thought slightly narrowing her eyes at him when he added before walking off.

"Just a heads-up, though, your other boyfriend is downstairs bonding with Jenna over salad dressings."

Elena's eyes widened in surprise. "Stefan's here?" she asked with a worried frown.

"Oh great. As if this dream wasn't odd enough already," Damon murmured with a sigh appearing next to them. "Hopefully at least the breakfast is edible."

He took a step toward the stairs but got held up by Elena grabbing his hand and pulling him back. "Where are you going?!" She asked in a hushed tone, giving him a stunned look.

"Downstairs?" Damon offered, glancing at Jeremy who began entertaining the thought of staying for breakfast, after all. It looked like it was going to be more fun than usual. "Unless you want me to watch you getting dressed?" He added with a knowing smirk that made color rise to Elena's cheeks.

Jeremy cleared his throat. "I don't feel like I need to be a part of this conversation," he muttered, heading down the stairs.

Elena wanted to call after him, but was silenced by a soft kiss.

When she opened her eyes, Damon was looking at her. "Good morning," he said, lifting his hand to brush wet strands of hair off her cheek and Elena had to admit that staying mad at him was difficult… but not impossible.

"Good morning," she echoed at a loss for a better retort, but then she regained her composure and grabbed his arm rather forcefully pushing him back into her room. "What are you doing?!" She demanded again in a hushed voice still holding onto his arm.

She expected him to be evasive, but something flashed in his eyes that convinced her he was going to tell her the truth.

"I'm just trying to make the most of my time here. I don't know how much time I have left," he said wistfully.

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think? Elena asked but then her face drained of all color as she was suddenly struck by the thought that seemed alarmingly plausible in the context of Damon's strange behavior. "Are you ill?" She asked, her voice faltering at the idea that made her feel as if her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

But fortunately the relief came rather quickly.

"No," Damon said with a small grimace and a humorless snort. "I just expect to wake up any minute."

"You can't wake up!" Elena replied with more aggravation in her tone than his words probably guaranteed. "This is not a dream! Stop saying that!"

She drew a breath a bit stunned, as if her own outburst surprised her.

"OK," Damon nodded with a weak, bittersweet smile, because it did make sense for Elena to get upset in his dream over the concept of either of them being asleep. "I'm sorry." He pressed a soft kiss to her trembling lips. "Let's just take it all one kiss at a time," he said quietly, outlining the contour of her face with his fingertips.

Elena snorted weakly and shook her head with a small smile. "What is this? What are we doing here?" She asked, her smile lighting up her eyes when Damon brought her hands to his lips, and started kissing them.

"We can go to New York and get married. What is your dream honeymoon destination?" He asked, suddenly realizing that they never got enough peaceful days in a row to start talking about that.

"Damon, I'm serious," Elena insisted, biting back a laugh, and then she held a breath when Damon reassured her that he was being utterly serious too. As incredulous as it seemed, there was something in his eyes that told her that he was. "You can take a shower and I'll meet you downstairs."

She wasn't sure how to deal with this astounding turn of events that somehow made her believe his love declarations, made her feel like she loved him too, even though they barely knew each other.

"Does it mean I can crash your family breakfast?" Damon asked, amused.

"It's technically our family breakfast since your brother is there too," Elena replied almost playfully and it seemed to Damon that she made up her mind to play along with his odd attitude.

He gave her a lop-sided smile when she kissed him on the cheek.

"When I come downstairs, can I ask your aunt for your hand in marriage?"

"No," Elena said, unwrapping the towel in one swift movement and throwing it over Damon's head before he had a chance to take advantage of the view. She pushed him inside her bathroom and added with a smile evident in her voice, and then quickly closed the door behind him. "But you can ask me later."

xxxdelenaxxx

Elena had absolutely no clue what she was doing. Playing with fire would be one way to put it. But what she knew for sure was that she didn't feel that alive in a very long time.

Jenna glanced at Jeremy who was watching Elena closely from above his coffee mug, and she had to admit that she also found the stifled smiles flitting across Elena's face puzzling, although she rather hoped they were a good thing. What she did find a little confusing was that Elena's mood didn't seem to be related to Stefan who was sitting across from her at the table, since Elena wasn't paying much attention to him.

"So how is school going?" Jenna asked, shifting her eyes to Stefan who offered a politely humorous reply that was cut short by someone walking into the kitchen, to Jenna's astonishment from the side of the stairs, the fact which clearly indicated that he must have come from upstairs.

Jenna blinked a few times and was too stunned to even reply to Damon's greeting, silently watching him take his place at the table next to Elena and press a quick kiss to her cheek before snatching a raspberry from her plate.

Blushing, Elena did her best not to chuckle at the expressions on Jenna's and Stefan's faces. She should probably feel embarrassed but somehow the only emotions currently available to her were amusement and excitement over Damon's behavior in general and his treatment of her in particular. As if they were dating for months. It was like a breath of fresh air, the warmth emanating from his words, his gestures. From him. The sudden familiarity of it all was overwhelming in a soothingly pleasurable way.

"What flavor is that?" Damon asked so casually that Jeremy couldn't help but smile while answering the question and handing Damon the plate with muffins.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked evenly with a barely perceptible trace of a threat in his voice, his eyes fixed on Damon.

Damon squeezed his eyes shut and groaned under his breath before giving Stefan a sincerely pleading look that made him blink in confusion.

"Please, Stefan. I can't do drama right now."

"Do you know each other?" Jeremy asked, looking between Damon and Stefan.

"He's my brother," Stefan replied gloomily.

"Watch out, Stefan. The enthusiasm in your voice might set your toasts on fire," Damon retorted with what seemed like cordial amusement and Stefan could not figure out the meaning of this.

"Oh wow," Jeremy acknowledged with a chuckle, ignoring Elena glaring daggers at him.

"Am I missing something?" Jenna asked with an artificial smile, shifting her eyes from Elena, who seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with her, to Damon.

"Elena and I are getting married," Damon announced reaching for Elena's hand.

Stefan frowned. As difficult as it was to guess what Damon was up to and where he was going with this ridiculous stunt, it was even more difficult for him to understand Elena's reaction. She looked a little uneasy, but not appalled, shocked or exasperated. It was almost as if she was taking Damon's words seriously, and was actually considering the possibility.

"Is that a joke?" Jenna never looked less amused.

Jeremy raised his eyebrows, pouring himself more coffee.

"Not at all," Damon insisted, intertwining his fingers with Elena's and with an inner smile acknowledging that while she seemed nervous, she made no effort to free her hand or protest his words.

Jenna crossed her arms over her chest and Elena could hardly keep a straight face upon the realization that Jenna was already jumping to conclusions as if she knew exactly what was going on. "How old are you, Damon?"

Damon narrowed his eyes at Jenna in a crooked smile. "How old do I look?"

Jenna didn't smile back. "Not seventeen," she deadpanned, glancing at Elena with a mixture of frustration and worry.

She clearly had no idea that all of that transpired overnight and wasn't a result of an elaborate scheme consisting of secret dates, college parties, and illegal drinking. Elena bit her lip not sure if it was a good sign that she didn't feel like clarifying any of that.

Or at least not most of it.

"Are you pregnant?"

The question shook Elena out of her reverie and she straightened up, caught off guard by Jenna's assumption.

Jeremy choked on his coffee.

"No, I'm not!" Elena shook her head. "And that's not what this is about." Elena drew a sharp intake of breath.

"So what is this about?" Jenna demanded.

Stefan shifted his eyes between Elena and Damon, and only after a moment Damon realized that the glimpse of angry disbelief in Stefan's eyes indicated that he suspected compulsion being at play here.

But then Damon's attention was drawn back to Elena when in a voice quivering with emotion that seemed to astound even her, she tried to answer Jenna's question.

"I don't know how to explain this but.. yesterday we barely knew each other and today I can't- I can't imagine a moment without him."

Damon gazed at her in wide-eyed wonder. Even if it was a dream he was dreaming, it still sounded overwhelming to hear such words spoken by Elena. Especially since they didn't sound imaginary at all. They sounded like they were coming straight from her heart.

"That's quite a rapid transition," Jenna pointed out in a wry voice.

"Why we never question bad things happening without a warning, but somehow we always find it weird when all of a sudden something good happens to us?"

Everyone's eyes darted to Jeremy and for a longer moment they all stared at him in silence.

"That's a very good point, Jer," Elena said softly, almost feeling the tears well up in her eyes.

She and Jeremy exchanged faint smiles.

"OK, I'm officially overwhelmed," Jenna muttered, glancing between everyone with a frown on her face.

"Look at it that way, Aunt Jenna. If Elena gets married and moves out, you'll only have one teenager to be responsible for," Jeremy said with a glimpse of cheerfulness in his eyes.

Jenna's mouth twitched but she didn't let the humor to be easily detectable in her voice when she spoke. "Interesting point of view," she said, stabbing a piece of fruit on her plate with a fork. "That I'm going to dismiss."

xxxdelenaxxx

"You don't remember where you parked your car?" Jeremy asked with amusement clear in his voice, after having, to Elena's surprise, accepted Damon's offer to give him a ride to school.

They walked out of the house together, and stopped on the porch while Damon looked left and right, seemingly in search of his car.

"Let's take my car," Elena proposed, holding up her car keys.

Damon scanned the street one more time before he decided to accept the fact that while his mind could conjure up Stefan agreeing to help Jenna with a broken microwave while Damon would take Elena and Jeremy to school, apparently conjuring up his camaro was too much work for his brain at this time.

"OK," Damon said with a frown, snatching the keys out of Elena's hand.

"I'll let you drive mine when I find it," Damon flashed her a crooked smile in response to a half-serious stunned look she gave him.

"I take back what I said about him being a drug dealer. He's probably a gambler and lost his car in a poker game," Jeremy told Elena while walking past her on his way to Elena's car, the engine of which Damon was already starting.

Elena narrowed her eyes at Jeremy and chuckled wryly when he glanced at her over his shoulder with a flitting smile.

"So… where are we going?" Damon asked when Elena got inside, and sat next to him, while Jeremy sat in in the back of the car.

"To school!" Elena replied sternly, despite Jeremy's enthusiastic reaction to Damon's question.

"Come on, Elena. You go to school every day," Damon argued. "I bet you haven't been to Atlanta yet."

"Awesome!" Jeremy called out from the backseat, chuckling at Elena giving both him and Damon rather ineffectively indignant looks.

"We are not going to Georgia!" Elena protested.

"We are not going to Georgia," Damon repeated, but his tone of voice was too amused for Elena to believe he really changed his mind. "We are driving to Georgia!"

"Damon!"

"Elena!"

He glanced at her and Elena couldn't help but chuckle and give in.

"Damon!" Jeremy shouted, and Damon's first thought was that he was mimicking their argument, but then Jeremy's outstretched hand made him focus on the road again.

He instinctively hit the brakes at the sight of someone standing in the middle of the road but as soon as he realized who it was, he pressed the accelerator again.

Elena's eyes widened in surprise, but despite Damon fully intending to ignore Elena and Jeremy urging him to stop, and drive right through Sybil instead, he found the car slowing down as if out of its own accord.

"Stay in the car," he muttered, getting out before Elena managed to ask him anything.

She looked to Jeremy who seemed as confused as her.

"Stay here, Jeremy," Elena said resolutely, unfastening her seat belt and jumping out of the car before Jeremy had the time to express his indignation at being the only one left inside.

"Get out of me head," Damon said in a menacing tone while Elena's eyes darted between him and the woman with an unsettling smile she'd never seen before.

"This again," Sybil said with a small pout, her eyes laughing. "How many times will I have to prove who really is in charge here?"

Elena's forehead wrinkled in confusion, but before she had a chance to ask who this person was, suddenly a torch appeared in Sybil's hand.

"Go ahead," Damon said in a low voice heavy with condescension. "Burn it to the ground. All of it. Every thought, every memory. Because even if you do, even if I lose all of my thoughts and all of my memories, Elena will be in every piece of my mind, in every piece of me, always. She is unerasable. She'll never go away."

Elena blinked, taken aback by Damon's words, trying to make sense of them.

Sybil looked at him with a small smirk playing about her lips, the torch in her hand shining brightly, long flames bursting in every direction.

"An impressive display of courage," she said with a sardonic smile, slowly lowering the torch nearer and nearer to the ground. "But there is one rather fatal flaw in your reasoning. We are not in your head." Sybil glanced at Elena before fixing her gaze at Damon, the burning torch suddenly splitting into countless balls of fire about to burn everything surrounding them. "We are in hers."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for all of your awesome reviews! I'm truly overwhelmed by your wonderful response to this story. It was so nice to be writing and posting a DE story again. Till (hopefully/maybe/someday) next story, here is the final chapter to this one :)

 **Chapter 4**

The ground caught fire with unnatural ease but the flames lasted only for a second before they were doused by the rain, which suddenly started streaming down in torrents.

Somehow the rain seemed to be the best proof that wherever they were, Sybil wasn't in control here. She seemed momentarily confused, and Damon took this opportunity to turn back toward the car to see if Elena and Jeremy were OK. But the car was gone.

Elena was standing near where the car had been, her eyes fixed on Damon in a bewildered, questioning expression.

Without trying to explain anything, Damon grabbed Elena's hand and ran with her toward the nearest building. They were both rain-soaked, but only until they came inside, and a wave of warmth made their clothes instantly dry again. And this didn't surprise Damon any more than the fact that when they closed the random building's door behind them, they found themselves inside the boarding house.

He looked around the living room, and for a few moments it felt like home again, this place where they had danced in silence, where Elena had told him she loved him, where they had once been playing house all summer, oblivious and immune to anything that wasn't them, that wasn't happy. The boarding house before the ghosts from the past and bad choices' aftermaths had wrecked it.

Absently, Elena followed Damon's gaze, beginning to realize that something more than a little strange was happening around them, the rain echoing in her head like a melody she felt she knew very well but couldn't place. Yet a part of her suddenly _knew_ that it had something to do with Damon's favorite memory of them.

"Something has changed," Elena murmured pensively. "Between you and me. Since yesterday. How can everything change in one day?"

She should be asking hundreds of different questions but somehow this was the most prominent thought on Elena's mind right now. It felt like the entire world turned upside down and she just wanted to make sense of it, of them, before she could consider anything else.

Damon gave her a sorrowful smile. "That yesterday happened years ago, Elena. And our tomorrow is decades away from now," he added quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

The sound of the fireplace crackling quietly in the background replaced the torrents of rain and for a few moments they were looking at each other in silence.

"How is that possible?" Elena finally asked, no longer sure what she was really asking about, so it didn't seem to matter much that Damon also appeared to be answering a different question.

"I don't know how I survived all those days, weeks, months without you, Elena," he said dejectedly with a grimace. "I need you. I'm trying to fight it on my own, but... it's getting darker and darker out there, and I don't know how much longer I can fight."

He cupped Elena's face in his hands and she instinctively leaned into his touch. And even if she didn't know what exactly he was talking about, he knew that she understood. She always did.

"That woman said... that we were in my head?" Elena whispered, her voice barely audible. It was such a strange thought yet the confusion seemed to be fading off her mind. The surreal scene she didn't want to think about couldn't be ignored, if only because it had to be dealt with. Elena drew a sharp intake of breath. It seemed that somewhere between practicing a fake smile in front of the mirror and the future she couldn't now remember, she had developed a habit of dealing with problems head-on.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Elena felt hot tears gather under her eyelids. Damon's weird behavior was beginning to make sense now. The way he looked at her. Like he knew her. Like he loved her. She smiled through her tears because this felt like the best thing to hold on to, even if everything else was still hazy and unclear.

He behaved as if he loved her because he did.

There seemed to be a void between the past and the future, and Elena had always heard that what mattered most was the present but now it seemed that the present was precisely what they did not have.

"Am I asleep?" Elena asked quietly, struck by the thought. She slowly opened her eyes, the question echoing in her head as she did so.

Damon nodded slowly, gathering her to him, and only then Elena realized she was shaking. For a brief moment, the rain outside sounded more like shards of glass crashing against the polished floor of a wedding venue.

"Long story. Magical coma." Damon's hands touched her cheeks, and they felt warm, felt real. And it was raining again. "You are asleep and I'm thinking of you all the while. Until we will meet again. You told me to live my life in the meantime but... I can't. The world is a dark, empty place without you, Elena. And I didn't know it could be any different before we met. But now that I know what it feels like to be happy, to love you, to be loved by you, living without you hurts every minute of every day, and I just wish I could fall asleep too, sleep until you wake up."

"Don't say that," Elena replied on an impulse, so many feelings rushing to the surface of her mind even if the memories of particular events, memories of time were still missing. What she was feeling felt utterly timeless anyway, and perhaps she didn't need to know anything else for now.

Damon smiled brokenly, his forehead falling against Elena's. Was it a dream miraculously dreamed by both of them, somehow? If so, maybe they should just accept the consolation the dream was giving them. He couldn't give up. He couldn't give up on their future. One day they were going to be together again, and he had to persevere until that day would come. No matter the obstacles, he couldn't give in to darkness. There was enough light in Elena's love for him to carry him through more than one hell.

"It feels too real to be a dream," Elena whispered, smiling faintly against Damon's lips when he kissed her. The kiss was gentle, but it filled her with incomprehensible warmth, it made her feel invincible, like everything was possible, like he knew everything about her, like she loved him.

Because she did.

"I don't know what it is exactly but... I know that it's the real you in my arms, and it's the real me kissing you," Damon spoke under his breath, holding her in an embrace. "We are real. Even if we are not really here."

Mirroring his gesture, Elena cupped Damon's face in her hands. "Why am I dreaming about you?" She asked softly.

"Isn't it self-explanatory?" Damon asked, returning her smile. "A tall, dark stranger and all?"

Elena chuckled under her breath. "Believe it or not, that's not my type."

"So what's your type, Elena?" Damon asked, squinting.

"Isn't it self-explanatory?" Slowly brushing her fingertips over the skin of his face Elena smiled again. "You."

Tightening his embrace around her, Damon trailed kisses across Elena's face before pressing his cheek to hers. He closed his eyes. "We were happy," he murmured, and Elena wrapped her arms around his neck, thinking how strange and amazing it was that his voice alone was making her feel happy. "But then all good things came to a halt, and now you are asleep for years to come and I…" Damon winced. "I'm not doing the best job trying to hang in there while you are sleeping."

"But one day we will be happy again," Elena said earnestly, feeling as if her words carried more strength than she could endow them with without remembering everything that had happened between them. They rang true and she wanted both of them to cling to them. "And you _have to_ hang in there," she added, pressing her lips to his.

"Seriously?! I didn't want to believe it but... here it is!"

Damon and Elena abruptly lifted their heads and looked at each other in surprise, torn out of the moment, not sure what was suddenly happening around them.

In which case usually Caroline was happening, Elena thought, and sure enough, it was Caroline who was standing in the boarding house's doorway, shifting her indignant gaze between them.

"Well, the fact that we're in your head, and not mine, certainly explains quite a few things, however I have to say I'm a bit concerned how to interpret the fact that you keep imagining people interrupting us at most inopportune moments," Damon said under his breath.

Blinking back the tears Elena shrugged, smiling a little. "Maybe I'm trying to lighten the mood?"

"So? Do you have anything to say? Or you just want Stefan and I to _infer_ that you are dumping us and opting for jumping each other's bones instead?" Caroline continued fuming, and only then Damon and Elena realized that Stefan was standing behind Caroline in the open doorway, no sign of rain outside, only the sunshine all around Stefan and Caroline, and despite their irritating personalities, it seemed very befitting of them, Damon thought.

Tilting his head toward Elena, Damon gave her a disbelieving look. "That's what you call lightening the mood?"

Elena bit her lip, stifling a smile.

"I have an idea," Damon said in mock cheerfulness, smiling at Caroline who was glaring back at him. "If this... mentalverse is so crowded already, more people won't hurt it anyway and may even help us figure out how I seamlessly traveled from my head into Elena's. In other words, let's head to Bonnie's. Can we do that?" Damon asked as an afterthought, giving Elena a hesitant look, because it felt a little preposterous to be bossing around in Elena's head, although she didn't seem to mind.

Elena exhaled slowly. "We can try, I guess."

Caroline and Stefan looked at each other in confusion.

"Great," Damon said with a smile, and taking Elena's hand in his, strolled out of the house, giving Caroline and Stefan little choice but to follow.

"Tell me, Elena, do you secretly resent my car?" Damon asked when despite scanning their surroundings very carefully, he could still see no sign of his camaro, which forced them to just walk to Bonnie and her grandmother's house. Assuming it would be where it was supposed to be, of course. There was no guarantee Mystic Falls in Elena's head mirrored the real town.

Elena snorted. "Well, I'm sure it's not here for a reason. Maybe I was jealous of it? Did you like it better than me?"

"Nah," Damon said dismissively. "I liked you both exactly the same."

Elena narrowed her eyes at him, he kissed her, and they both smiled.

And Elena thought that if there was one reliable proof they were in a dream, it was the fact that Caroline didn't even comment on that.

xxxdelenaxxx

"Is that all?" Sheila asked slowly, with all the usual dignity in her voice, her gaze fixed on Damon, although Elena was sure she was somehow also aware of facial expressions of everyone else in the room.

She and Damon were sitting on the couch across from Sheila, while Stefan and Caroline were occupying nearby chairs. Bonnie was sitting next to her grandmother with possibly the most hilarious expression Elena had ever seen her wear.

It was rather puzzling to think she was technically... imagining all of it? Dreaming it up? Whatever the correct technical term was. If only she could find a way out. She may have been in a magical coma, but Damon wasn't. And they had to find a way to get him out of here.

Damon nodded. "Pretty much."

Elena straightened up, trying to recall the question Damon was answering. It seemed that she zoned out in her own head, and the amused smile that lit up her eyes at the idea didn't escape Damon's attention.

"Having some interesting thoughts within what's essentially your thought?" Damon asked with a smirk, reaching out for Elena's hand. She intertwined her fingers with his.

"I think it's sufficiently interesting that we came to ask for advice people whom I'm technically imagining, right?" Elena asked with a hint if humor in her voice.

Damon seemed to ponder this for a second, the expression on his face making Elena smile even more.

"Is he…?" Caroline asked in a rather loud whisper, leaning toward Stefan.

"Crazy? Clearly," Bonnie deadpanned, although Elena suspected she wasn't referring to Damon's story as much as to his opening claim that they were besties.

"So… you are from the future?" Stefan asked, and there seemed to be more resignation than humor in his tone.

Damon rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not from the future, Stefan. I'm from the one and only _present_. And this is not the past, but some kind of a dream. I was reliving one of my memories of Elena, and then it somehow transitioned into Elena's dream, and now it's our dream in Elena's head-"

"Yes, you've already said all that," Bonnie said flatly. "Three times."

Damon sighed in exasperation. "For the sake of argument, Bon-Bon, could you at least try to believe me?"

Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "Bon-Bon? Really?"

"Guys, this isn't helpful," Elena cut in with a sigh.

"You mean you actually believe him?" Caroline gave Elena an incredulous look.

"Well, it's Elena's dream, so I'm sure she believes him," Bonnie replied with a wry smile.

"You didn't invite me in, and yet I came in. Doesn't it add credibility to my claim?" Damon suddenly asked, addressing Sheila who had been listening to the banter in silence.

Elena frowned, wondering at the idea for a second and then finding it beyond startling that she seemed aware of all of their supernatural circumstances even though at that point in the past where her memory was still apparently stuck, she didn't even know that vampires existed.

Sheila smiled a little. "Perhaps it does," she allowed. "For the sake of argument, then, I'd say there may be an explanation for what you have described."

Elena and Damon exchanged hopeful glances before they looked to Sheila again.

"If you were dreaming about the exactly same moment from the past, your subconscious minds might have merged, and now your minds are one."

Stefan's forehead wrinkled in thought while Caroline blinked rapidly.

"I'm trying to decide if that's romantic or creepy," she said with a thin smile, breaking the silence that fell in the room.

"But if our dreams have merged, and I can't wake up, how do we make Damon wake up?" Elena asked matter-of-factly, leaning forward in her seat. Even if she was merely tapping into her own subconscious, she felt that the answer was going to sound more believable if it came from Bonnie's grandmother. Not to mention that considering that she was a witch, who knew if Sheila's real spirit was not present in her dream?

"The same moment from the past bound your minds together, so only the same moment from the future might unbind them."

Elena opened her mouth to ask another question, but then the room in which they were became empty.

"Seeing that we've been technically talking to ourselves this whole time anyway, I guess the sudden exit doesn't really matter," Elena said slowly, a deep frown forming on her forehead, her gaze darting to Damon when he covered her hand with his and squeezed it lightly.

"I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere. In fact, I'm very much in favor of staying here," Damon said, draping his arm around Elena, and leaning his head against hers. "So Sybil is the only problem that remains. She must've slipped into your mind while spying on mine," Damon concluded gloomily. "She doesn't seem to be able to do much, but we have push her out for good before she figures out how she may cause some damage around here."

"Damon."

Damon made an unintelligible noise, lost in thought, his eyes fixed on an unidentifiable point in space, as he was trying to come up with a plan to get rid of Sybil the very next time she'd show up. If he could stay here with Elena, in Elena's mind, until Elena woke up, wouldn't that be just best for everyone? He would be safe from all the darkness. He wouldn't have to suffer or fight. And Elena wouldn't need to worry about him making more terrible mistakes.

"Damon!"

Elena turned around in his arms, and gripped his shoulders, making him look at her.

"We have to get you out of here. That's what we need to do. That's the only thing. You need to go home," Elena added shakily, caught off guard by her own words having such an effect on her, making her suddenly feel so utterly sad. But as painful as it was to imagine Damon leave, she felt it was the right thing to do.

"I'm not going anywhere," Damon said a little petulantly.

"Yes, you are," Elena insisted. "You need to wake up and go home."

Damon twirled a lock of her hair around his finger, and kissed it before letting it fall back onto Elena's shoulder. "You are my home, Elena."

With a warm, amused chuckle Elena placed her palm on his cheek and brushed her lips against his. "I wish I remembered everything about us. About you. Our life together must have been a fairy tale. One thing though," she continued before Damon had a chance to react to her idealistic assumption. "That memory of us in which we met here. You said it happened differently here than it really did?"

"Yes, what really happened was that I came to see you, I spent a few moments looking at you, and then I left before you woke up," Damon said in a voice which grew more and more gentle as he spoke. His fingers skimmed across Elena's face in a tender gesture.

"Then how could we be thinking about the same memory? If I didn't know it happened?"

Damon smiled. "I told you about it a couple of years afterwards."

Elena snorted under her breath. "Of course. So... how do we come up with the same future memory?"

"Like I said, I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere," Damon said with a smile, rising to his feet, pulling Elena with him. "Do you want to go on your very own private tour around Mystic Falls, Elena?" He asked with a lop-sided smile. "First stop, the porch of your house where we first kissed."

Elena acknowledged this piece of news with a smile which turned into a gasp when gusts of wind suddenly flew across the room, transforming it into the very spot Damon had just mentioned.

"That was very cool, Elena." Damon looked around the porch before giving Elena a wink.

"Thank you but this kind of happened all by itself," she said with a bewildered smile. "I just…" she trailed off, squinting into the distance. "Do you remember that day when you drove by and saw me at my cheer-leading practice?" She looked back at Damon who nodded, wondering what Elena meant by recalling that memory. It didn't seem particularly significant. "We barely knew each other then," Elena continued. "And you couldn't have looked at me for longer than three seconds. Yet you guessed exactly what I felt like in that moment. No one else knew, no else noticed. I was doing my best not to show it."

"You told me later that some things could matter again. You were right," Damon said in a low voice.

Elena gave him a small smile. "Yes, but cheer-leading wasn't one of them. And I did quit, just like you said I should. Because you were right too. There was no point in doing something that was making me feel miserable."

"That's what life without you is like. Miserable," Damon said with a grimace.

"I know that," Elena said and the tears in her eyes made Damon's heart clench not only because it hurt seeing her cry, but because of the realization that he knew only too well that look of determination accompanying the tears. "Because I know you as well as you know me. And maybe that's why your car isn't here because it's a car, a symbol of the possibility to leave? And I know you don't want to leave, and I don't want you to leave either. But giving up on everything because one thing is making you miserable? That's not the way to go. I may be asleep, but Stefan isn't. Neither is Bonnie. And you said you had another friend, Enzo? They and I'm sure many other people are all out there and they need you. They need you to be there, with them. You can't abandon all of them because you miss me."

Maybe it was the matter of being in her own head or maybe it was because she wished with all her heart for it to work. But Elena was sure it would. When Damon had told her about their first kiss, his words had immediately taken her mind, her heart to that place, that memory. It had to work the other way around too. She just had to make him think about the future.

"We are not _dreaming_ of each other, Damon," Elena said, trying to catch her breath. She was doing this for him, and the thought was giving her strength, even as she was feeling the excruciating pain burn her inside out at the thought that in three seconds, two, one, she might not be able to see him or touch him anymore. Not until she would wake up, someday. "We are _with_ each other. Always. I love you," she whispered, repeating the words with a smile when he kissed her. "Wherever and whenever you are. This is why any moment of your life is and will always be _our_ memory," she said, endlessly relieved, despite the overwhelming sadness splitting her apart, that she was right, that making Damon think about any future moment of his life had to be enough to wake him up. The lights flickered around them, the rain was pouring down again, and out of the corner of her eye Elena saw Damon's car parked in front of her house. "One day I will wake up. But you... you need to wake up right now."

xxxdelenaxxx

"Finally! I was worried I'd have to throw you into the fire or something equally poignant to wake you up."

The words seemed to drift to Damon out of nowhere, although the voice sounded raspy, steady, and perfectly familiar. With the greatest effort Damon slowly blinked his eyes open, his blurred vision quickly regaining its focus, Enzo's face in front of him coming into view.

"Please no amnesia. I've had a long day. Double duty thanks to your indisposition, if you know what I mean," Enzo muttered, studying Damon's face as he seemed to be still in the process of shaking the remnants of sleep off his mind. "And the answer to your question that you're probably about to ask is that you've been out for _many_ hours."

With a groan, Damon ran his hands across his face and sat up. He looked around the dimly lit space that suddenly seemed smaller than before.

"And the answer to your question is... right now."

"What question?" Enzo asked, looking Damon up and down, trying to keep his voice even.

"When does it end. This morning. You asked when does it end." Rising to his feet, Damon brushed the dust off his clothes and gave Enzo a tired, crooked smile. "It ends right now. Let's get our lives back."

"You do realize we're not technically alive," Enzo murmured matter-of-factly.

"You're ruining the momentum."

"You kind of ruined it first when you left me to die in flames."

"That _was_ the momentum. Years ago. Can we move on?"

Enzo nodded, narrowing his eyes in another smile, and Damon thought that considering the situation they were in, it either meant that Enzo had gone insane or that he was already in the middle of executing a plan.

"Can you focus? Because I'm only going to say it all once."

Damon widened his eyes at Enzo, annoyed by his attitude, because he wasn't in the mood for riddles.

Enzo took a breath and then delivered a concise speech that Damon was sure he would never forget for as long as Elena and him would live their long and happy human lives together.

"I've been back in touch with Bonnie for a while now. She got her powers back. I let her know about your dream-world ventures. Do you know that you talk in your sleep? Well, you do. I figured what was going on, and I told Sybil about your dream-ventures too, to lure her into your dream. While she was there, Bonnie linked your mind to Elena's, so Sybil would follow you into Elena's mind. And then Bonnie could mess with Kai's spell. I know, Kai warned you not to try undoing the sleeping curse, but Bonnie figured how to free Elena from it without undoing the spell. She just had to replace the person under the spell. So when Sybil went into Elena's head, Bonnie transferred the spell onto her. Brilliant, eh? So now Sybil's asleep and Elena's awake. Tyler's driving her back from New York. They should be here in... " Enzo consulted his watch. "45 minutes. You're welcome, and yes, you can buy a sea coast mansion for Bonnie and I as a wedding gift."

xxxdelenaxxx

It was the longest 45 minutes in the history of time, Damon was sure of it. He was also sure he didn't blink even once while gazing into the dark road, waiting for the lights of Tyler's car to appear on the horizon, illuminate the darkness, and the side of the road near the forest where they were set to meet.

He was barely aware of anything else that was happening around him. Bonnie and Enzo sitting in an embrace on the trunk of the car into which they had put Sybil for now. Stefan watching him. Caroline complaining how when Bonnie dies, and Sybil wakes up, she'll be the one left to deal with her, because by that time everyone else was also probably going be dead.

"I may still be around," Stefan offered. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him in a bright smile.

The headlights nearly blinded him and Damon held his breath, watching the car approach. His heart was beating furiously in his chest and every moment seemed to be happening in slow motion, not fast enough, even though his mind was reeling, and he felt the ground slip from under his feet so very fast when he broke into a run, getting to the door as soon as Elena got out of the car.

He immediately swept her into his arms, and she wrapped her hands around him with a stifled cry. Pressing kisses all over her face, Damon smiled against Elena's lips when she laughed.

They were supposed spend a hundred years apart, but instead their hundred years together was about to start.


End file.
